Sack ministers working against you, Muhyiddin tells Anwar

 The Bersatu president says Cabinet members not aligned with the prime minister would sabotage government policies.

Muhyiddin Yassin said that if he were the prime minister, he would reshuffle the Cabinet and ensure that those not aligned with him would not remain in the Cabinet or be part of the government.

PETALING JAYA:

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin has suggested that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim sack ministers who are not aligned with him, claiming that they would sabotage government policies.

The former prime minister said Anwar should consider doing so given the public disagreements between him and Barisan Nasional leaders.

“If I were the prime minister, I would have sacked them. I would have reshuffled the Cabinet and ensured that those who are not aligned with me could not remain or even be part of the government.

“This is because they would sabotage all government policies. Perhaps that is their intention, to bring down the government led by Anwar,” Sinar Harian quoted him as saying while campaigning for a Bersatu candidate in Pengkalan Batu, Melaka.

He was commenting on reports that Anwar had on Thursday challenged ministers who criticised the unity government while campaigning in the state election to raise their grievances at a Cabinet meeting the following day.

It is unknown who Anwar was referring to in his speech at Dewan Pay Fong in Melaka.

However, he had previously rebuked federal officeholders who used their positions to criticise unity government partners during the Negeri Sembilan state election campaign in August.

His deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also the Barisan Nasional chairman, responded at the time that Anwar could sack BN ministers if he was unhappy with them.

Muhyiddin said BN’s stance was increasingly confusing, given that the party still had representatives in the government, including the deputy prime minister, ministers and deputy ministers.

He said that as members of the government, any dissatisfaction with policies or administrative decisions should be resolved through discussions at the party or Cabinet level, rather than aired publicly.

“The principle is that if we are part of a government, we should not (publicly) criticise our own government or the parties within it. That is basic,” he said.

In the Nov 14 Melaka polls, PH and BN will not be working together, despite being allies at the federal level. BN has an electoral pact with Perikatan Nasional instead. - FMT